


Across The Dark

by Wendybird017



Category: The Faded Sun Series - C. J. Cherryh
Genre: F/M, Porn With Plot, Porn with Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-31
Updated: 2016-01-31
Packaged: 2018-05-17 07:53:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5860501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wendybird017/pseuds/Wendybird017
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hlil and Ras resolve some feelings before the human ship leaves Kutath.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Across The Dark

Hlil gazed out towards the horizon. All around him the kel-second saw a sea of tents, black robed figures, and here and there those clad in blue or gold. Kel mingled with kel in a way unprecedented. In the distance too, on the edge of the camp he could see the tsi’mri’s ships. He felt a pang of sadness, as he imagined the coming dawn when he would be leaving on that ship. Kel Duncan had gone aboard with him, introduced him to the human kel’ein but it had seemed distant, like a dream. It was unreal, and yet tomorrow he would leave with these tsi’mri to travel out across the dark. He would represent the people, the face that looks outward, and see for himself the remnants of destruction that had followed those that had looked outward so long ago. It was a strange sense of loss that he felt, an anxiousness that he couldn’t exactly place. With the dus he could allow himself to feel numb for a time, but he had banished the beast eventually, wanting his thoughts to be clear, even if it was harder that way. At least at this distance he wasn’t broadcasting his uncertainty to the rest of the kel. He had enough on his mind at the moment without making goodbye’s any harder. In the end though, it had been his choice to go, it was his duty as kel second and he would not ignore the call.

  
Niun had spoken with him earlier in private, had given him his blessing. “I owe you my life” he had said “if it weren’t for you I don’t know what would have become of the ja’anom” Niun’s faith in him had strengthened his resolve, but a heavy weight had settled on his chest as he thought about the face he would miss the most. Ras. Ras whom he had known since she was a child, who had been a constant companion to him along with Merai, and he would lose her too it seemed.

  
Ras had changed it seemed of late. A rift had formed between them and threatened to swallow their friendship. But gods he loved her. She was witty, sharp as a blade, full of fire, and willful to a fault. And she was everything that he was not; well born, graceful and talented and beautiful. He never could have deserved her. It was for the best he thought, while she may have loved him as a friend and brother, Ras had never looked at him as a potential lover. Hlil had searched all afternoon after her, hoping he might say his goodbye to her in private, but she was nowhere to be found. She was angry at him he knew, and her temper was unlike any other force. She would not speak to him unless it was on her terms.  
Hlil watched the sun make its slow arc across the sky, daylight fading on Kutath, and wondered what the suns of an alien world would look like. After some time he heard soft footsteps as someone else climbed to the top of the rocky outcropping where he had been brooding. His heart leapt into his throat and he recognized the black clad form immediately. The membrane flashed across his eyes as Ras strode swiftly toward him.

  
“So you choose to hide yourself away from us?” she snarled yanking down her veil. Her eyes were ablaze.  
“I searched for you” he said lamely, “I assumed you did not wish to see me” hurt flashed across her face. He had never seen her so undone. Ras only glared back at him quivering with anger. “Please, Ras, only tell me what I have done to offend you so” he said wearily, he removed his zaidhe showing her his naked face in earnestness.  
“What have you done?” she laughed then shoved him away with heel of her hand. Hlil grabbed her by the shoulders and held her at arm’s length, surprised to see angry tears that welled threateningly in her eyes. Ras did not weep.

“I have lost Merai, I have lost my true-mother, and now I would lose you as well”

  
Hlil felt as if all the breath had left him. “Ras” he said lightly. His heart hammered against his ribs. “Please don’t do this. Please I do not want to part with you in anger” she turned away from him, averted her gaze. He tugged at her gently but she wrenched herself from his grasp.

  
“You do not have to go… Let the tsi-mri leave us and return to their side of the dark”

  
“Ras, you know as well as I that it is not so simple. It is my duty, I owe the tribe that much; I owe it to Merai.”

  
Ras looked like death waiting to be set free. “Are you sure that you are not running Hlil?”

  
Hlil felt a rush of anger, “I remind you Kel Ras that while our Kel’anth was chasing down his tsi’mri and you were busy searching for blood feud I was the one doing my best to keep tribe together!”

  
The membrane flashed across her eyes. “Yes and now the people are stronger than they have ever been in generations and yet you refuse to be happy, you are miserable. All of us bear grief why should yours be any greater?”  
He sighed heavily. “Please, I do not want there to be quarrel between us Ras, you are the only family I have. Let us set this aside please, let me enjoy your company while there is still time” he reached out to her imploringly. Ras looked at him like a wounded animal.  
“Please Ras, do not make me part from you this way! I would die myself in a way if I leave with ill between us. Gods Ras…I love you”

  
She turned then to face him stepping toward him slowly. “Do you?” she said coldly. Her words cut him like a dagger.

  
“I have loved you for years” he said his composure cracking slightly, “but you have always been too high for someone like me to reach. I have never been worthy of you.” Her eyes widened and then she raised her hand to strike him again, but Hlil was quicker this time, catching her wrist in a bruising grip.

  
“Because of your birth, you think I find you beneath me?” she fumed. “I may be proud Hlil but I am not arrogant! You think that your birth-status matters so to me? All my life I have known you! You taught me all I know, have been my friend for as long as my memory serves. You are as closer to me than any other. That has never mattered before” she was close to him now, so close to him. And he was rooted to the spot. Ras tore off her zaidhe then as well and shook her mane of golden hair free. “Damn you Hlil!” Gods she was beautiful.

  
Ras forcefully wrested herself from Hlil’s grip and turned as if to leave. Hlil realizing it may be the last chance he may ever speak to her felt something snap within him. He grabbed her upper arm, but she was no unscarred; she was as quick as he was. They struggled, briefly and forcefully which ended with Hlil holding Ras not objectively from behind. Ras pounded half-heartedly at him and finally went limp in his arms her head reclining on his shoulder, her eyes staring without really seeing at the distant horizon. For a moment they ceased to be the solemn, composed warriors and were two old friends who must soon part ways. Ras squirmed in his grasp until they were face to face then gazed at him sadly before throwing her arms around his neck. They stayed that way for a long time, holding each other, like they hadn’t in years.  
Eventually Ras drew away; golden eyes looked up at him. She opened her mouth to speak but the words died on her lips when she saw the way Hlil looked back at her. He leaned down toward her and she felt heat rising in her chest. His lips pressed softly against hers, as if to ask permission. She returned pressure, moving her lips against his exploring this new form of contact between them. They held each other a little tighter, and the urgency of the kiss increased as the need to touch, to feel became more acute.

  
“Damn you, Hlil,” she breathed against his lips, “damn you.” before she kissed him again. Hlil glided his tongue along her lips which parted expectantly for him. A battle for dominance ensued, Ras wrestled with him in all her characteristic ferocity. Hlil moaned lightly into her mouth as her hands tangled themselves in his hair, her long lean body pressed firmly against his own. He placed one hand on her waist holding her tightly the other resting on the back of her neck. She shuddered against him her hands roaming over his back and shoulders, clutching at him in a way that belied her need for closeness.  
Hlil brushed his fingers across the faded scars on Ras’s cheeks afraid to let go of her, as if he might suddenly wake from a dream. She nuzzled her face against the calloused skin of his palm. “Damn you to Hell Hlil” she whispered a pained expression on her face. “How could you not have known? I’ve wanted to be more than just your friend since I first donned the black” Hlil gave a tiny laugh; the irony of it all was perfect. Ras pressed herself closer to him and kissed him once again.

  
Ras eventually took his hands in hers placing them on her waist then guiding them over her body. Hlil had been close to her before: they had slept beside each other as children, been huddled together during a fierce sandstorm once, but never like this. She guided his hands over her chest, placing them in the fold of her robes. Understanding her intention he began to slowly undo the fastening of her robe and remove the layers of fabric separating them. Ras did likewise her deft hands untying the honor belts at his waist. He had no will to stop her, he wanted her so much, wanted there to be healing between them. She slipped the outer robe off her shoulders and crashed her lips against his again all the while her fingers untying knots and loosing bits of clothing. She worked her hands beneath his robe at last, her slender fingers sliding over his chest leaving a trail of fire in their wake and causing Hlil to inhale sharply.

  
Hlil’s mind was in turmoil, he had never expected that Ras would reciprocate his feelings. He should have been rational, should have stopped her knowing it would only make leaving her that much harder. But he could not bring himself to tear away from her, not when years of repressed passion were spilling out and slipping beyond his control. He traced his fingertips lightly over her collar bone his hands running over the soft golden skin of her shoulders. Her breathing hitched and she clutched him tightly one leg snaking around his hip. “Gods…” he murmured against her skin. Ras gave a few tugs and the remaining fabric pooled in an inky puddle at her feet.

  
He spent several long moments staring at her it was all he could do. Hlil had always found Ras to be lovely, thought her smile was beautiful, her eyes full of light and passion. But they were the face that looked outward and their bodies were a mystery, often even to each other. He could not have imagined how rapturously beautiful she truly was. She took advantage of his state, and pulled him down to the ground with her. “Ras,” he muttered “here…now, like this?”  
“There is no privacy down there in all that chaos” she said settling herself in his lap, hooking her legs around his waist. His attention was quickly drawn back to the kel’e’en. Her hands eagerly removed the rest of his clothing, and her bare skin against his was the most wonderful sensation he had ever experienced. The wind was chill as Na’i’in began to sink into the horizon, and Ras shivered holding herself closer against him.

  
Hlil was not naïve, he had spent his night in the kath tents when he had become kel’en and had visited from time to time. This was nothing like that. This was what it meant to make love he was sure. He ran his hands along the length of Ras’s body, hands cupping her small firm breasts. This elicited a low moan from the kel’en, her eyes closed her lips parted slightly. He trailed hot open-mouthed kisses along her collarbone and down along her chest and taking one pert nipple in his mouth.

  
Ras tipped her head back and let out a cry of ecstasy. She rolled her hips forward grinding against his already erect member. Hlil glided his tongue over the small bud drawing breathy moans from Ras sending shivers running down her body. Her hands pulled at his hair and he moved his mouth back to hers kissing her again and again. Her hands strayed down his chest, over his stomach to the twitching organ which was glowing with heat. She took him then in her hand, pressing gently underneath its engorged tip. “Yes…Ras” he panted. She positioned him at the entrance of her folds then kissed him lightly; “I love you Hlil” she breathed then thrust down onto him.

                Fire, fire was all he could feel.  Pleasure blazed through him of a kind he had never known. He could no longer separate what thoughts belonged to him and what belong to Ras. They were one mind, one flesh, brought closer than even the fleeting entanglement that the dusei could create. They moved together in a sinuous rhythm, her nails grazing the skin of his back and shoulders, their lips sliding against one another’s in an ungraceful kiss that was more a sharing of breath and sighs than anything else.

Ras walked a razors edge between pain and pleasure, enveloped by sensations utterly foreign and intoxicating. He felt so right inside her like a piece of her she didn’t know was missing. Any notion of pain soon melted into a white hot pleasure that that licked up her spine. Ras dug her nails into Hlil’s back as the pleasure reached a crescendo. She went completely still a moment as muscles began to contract rhythmically propelling her to a new height of ecstasy. Her climax sent Hlil into his own, groaning as he spent himself inside her. He clutched Ras tightly as they rode out the waves of pleasure, holding her until the trembling in her limbs subsided. She looked at him through half lidded-eyes, the membrane slowly retreating across golden orbs. He lay back, still inside her and Ras nestled her head onto his scarred chest. She traced her fingers slowly over the thin faded lines as her breathing slowly returned to normal.

  
They stayed that way for a long long time, the silence filled with quiet words and tender touches. Finally Ras lifted her head from Hlil’s chest and looked up at him.  
“I am going with you”

**Author's Note:**

> zaidhe- head covering  
> kel'en- male member of kel warrior class  
> kel'e'en- female member of kel warrior class  
> tsi-mri-other, alien


End file.
